sink in | donnor
Connor pretended to be shocked, his right hand covering his chest in mock offense. “You lied to me? How could you do such a thing? You’re not the girl I thought you were, Darcy Sharman—if that’s even your real name.” He began to laugh, unable to keep his act up. The boy couldn’t be upset with her for more than five minutes at the most, even if it was a staged anger. As the two made their way outside of the building and started to head toward the unknown surprise, he grabbed her hand, which he could feel softly brushing up against his own, and loosely filled the gaps between her fingers with his own. Darcy rambled a lot, but he didn’t mind listening. He found it endearing she could go on about a topic for what seemed like forever, especially when it was a subject she was passionate about. Conversations held between them had never failed to entertain him nor had they ever resorted to an awkward exchange of small talk. An unpreventable, childlike ear-to-ear grin was brought to his face once she mentioned they were on their way to stargaze together. Darcy waking him up in the middle of the night without any warning had all made sense now. Why hadn’t he thought of this first? The fact he was still exhausted from the day before or the fact that it felt like twenty pound dumbbells were weighing down his eyelids didn’t matter anymore. He was far too excited to care about losing hours of sleep, he instead felt wide awake and ready to relax under the stars for a long while.
"That’s not dumb at all, I actually think it’s a pretty great idea," he assured. He noticed a majority of the things she had given him or the romantic gestures she had planned almost always came with a comment about how stupid she thought it was. He hated she couldn’t be one hundred percent confident. Everything she had done for him thus far had been perfect, and Connor wished she could one day realize that. She had never been a disappointment in his eyes. "You know, I’ve never done this with anyone else, so you get to be the first. I’m sure it will be nice to sit in the middle of the field and feel like you and I are the only two people in San Diego. Maybe we’ll spot some famous constellation while we’re out, yeah? I’m not positive I’ve ever done that, either." Nudging her shoulder with his, he gave her a small smile to attempt to ease her nerves some. "No, no, I like it when you go on about something. Don’t apologize for speaking, it’s cute." The way she blushed and pushed her hair behind her ear was cute, too. He knew it was a nervous habit of hers, or at least he had observed she often did both of those things whenever she, in his opinion, seemed anxious. He glanced down to make eye contact. "So, hello."
Darcy glanced over at Connor, a skeptical look on her face, before laughing at his playful antics. “You’re right, you caught me,” she said, rolling her eyes at him, a smile still present on her lips. “My name’s not Darcy, it’s actually Katya and I’m a spy for the Russian government. Will you ever be able to trust me again?” Pausing for a moment, she let out another laugh before adding, “you know, I think that would’ve been much more convincing if I could do a Russian accent.” She stepped a little closer to him as she said this, the realization of how unrecognizable the school’s campus tended to be in the dark beginning to become slightly unsettling to her. She figured she’d failed to notice the menacing shadows the academy’s buildings managed to produce in her rush to get to Connor. It was then that she felt his fingers weave their way through her own and the warmth of his hand rest against her palm and suddenly any unnerving feelings she had had walking through the empty campus were replaced with the tingling sensation Darcy experienced whenever she felt his touch. She was comforted by the fact that he was so close and glad that he was the one she was off to see the stars with.
“I’m not sure why I was so nervous that you wouldn’t be into it, but I’m really glad you think it’s a good idea.” She admitted, a silly grin playing at her lips, elated nevertheless that he approved of her plan to go stargazing. Even after all the months they’d been together, Darcy always found herself second-guessing the intimate details she’d shared with him, ranging from her favorite movie to her favorite spot to view the stars. He’d always seemed pleased with what she had to give him and Darcy knew her insecurity around him was ridiculous, but part of her always wanted everything to be perfect. Connor was always giving her such wonderful things and taking her to such amazing places that she only wanted to do the same thing in return. “I’m honored,” she said in response to the news that she’d be the first to get to do something like this with him. His words caused her heart to speed up just a beat or two as she realized how excited she was to be in that moment with him and that no other people were around, truly giving off the illusion that they were the only people in San Diego. “I mean, I’ve never done this with anyone else either, so you get to be the first for me too. It’s gonna be fun!”
Shooting him a feigned glare as he nudged her lightly, Darcy quickly dropped the act once the word cute left his mouth. Her eyebrows raised as she smiled involuntarily, the blush that adorned her cheeks deepening ever so slightly. Sure, he’d said that her rambling was cute, but that was basically saying she was cute, right? Either way, it had the same effect on her and she couldn’t help but shrug it off with a mere ‘your face is cute,’ said in a way that one would assume she was insulting him though it obviously wasn’t meant as one. She wondered if he’d even heard her at all, as she was certain it’d come out as a whisper, one that could have easily been carried into the various sounds of the nighttime. Once she’d caught his gaze, Darcy slowed down until she made a complete stop, pulling ever so gently on Connor’s hand in hopes of encouraging him to do the same. Taking the time to study the features of his face, she almost wanted to laugh at herself. It must’ve been so awkward to be Connor in that moment and she couldn’t help but feel as though her actions were ones that came directly from one of the countless romantic comedies she’d spent many of her evenings watching with him. And had this been a movie, this would be the part where she’d spill her feelings and tell him just how much she loved him. She’d tell him how she loved the color of his eyes or the way his smile caused her to feel as though there was nothing wrong with the world. She’d tell him how she thought he was the most amazing, intelligent, kind-hearted person she’d ever met and how she’d love him until the day she died.
For a moment, Darcy nearly believed she truly was in a movie. She’d known for a very long time that she loved Connor, that she was even in love with him, but the right time to say it never seemed right enough. To say she was in love was something that frightened the girl, but as she continued to glance at the boy in front of her, she knew that she’d given all her affection to the one person she could trust to treasure it and, hopefully, feel the same way. Mustering up the courage to say the words that tickled at the back of her throat, Darcy swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. Part of her wanted to wait just a little longer, until they were in a better place— somewhere more romantic than just randomly on the walkway from the school to the soccer field, but then she figured now was better than any other time. “I love you, Connor.” She said, her steady words betraying her pounding heart. She longed to get more out, to tell him all the things she adored about him, even that she’d grown to become completely and utterly crazy for him— but she couldn’t manage to open her mouth to let all the words out. Instead, she gave a shy, little shrug and smiled at him. Her words were bold, and she’d be lying if she didn’t say she yearned to hear them returned, but as long as he knew how she felt; well, then she’d be happy.
